Time Again
by Catterix
Summary: Action-packed, emotionally driven story with loads of humour. In the 3 year training gap, Naruto & Jiraiya are attacked by a pair of assassins. One, an Ex-ANBU of Konoha, the other; a young boy with a secret darker and more dangerous than anything before.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sometimes life can be easy, and sometimes life can be hard, for Naruto, life was bloody agonising sometimes. Today rather, the agony was solely concentrated on the ends of his rather elongating toes.

"Tell me again why I have to do this, Sensei?" Naruto grumbled, looking up at the gallant Jiraiya sitting on the rock above him. Looking over his cup of Sake, Jiraiya peered down at the fourteen year old, who was dangling over the deep waterfall by individual ropes tied to each of his toes.

"A ninja can never be a ninja, until he has mastered pain in every bit of his body." Said the Sannin absently, as he peeked a look in his telescope at another sort of… body. There were twelve of them. No older than about twenty, the girls sat at the edge of the rock pool, splashing their feet. They were completely naked, by the way. Just in case you hadn't realised.

"Yeah right!" Naruto shouted over the churning water, "You just wanna peek at the girls!!"

"Keep your voice down!" Jiraiya shouted, "A ninja can never be a ninja until he has mastered the art of silence… and of course, those babes might hear you."

"Oh, I bet you mastered the art of silence real early." Muttered Naruto,

"You were, what, about nine the first time you sneaked into a girls' bathroom?"

"What was that?" asked Jiraiya, cavalierly plucking at the main rope connecting the ones holding Naruto, upside down, above the water a hundred feet below. Accepting the threat, Naruto folded his arms and fell silent, dangling there upside down.

"Ohohoho!" Jiraiya cackled, "Yes, that's it girls! Dance! Dance in that water! Yes, you want to get nice and wet!" It was at that moment that the precipice he was balanced on began to rock side to side ever so slightly.

"ERO SENNIN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" Naruto screamed, noticing the rhythmic rocking. At the sound of his voice, the girls all screamed and ran for their towels.

"No, my darlings!" Jiraiya cried, leaping upwards, in doing so, accidentally dislodging Naruto's rope. There was perhaps a moment's pause before Naruto realised he was falling. With just enough time to shout; "You perverted, wrinkly balled-" Naruto hit the water, rope and all.

-

Hidden within the leaves, not half a mile away sat a young man. With fiery red hair that seemed to glow in the setting sun's light, the boy peered at the manic endeavours before him. He gave a small laugh as the boy proceeded to beat the perverted old man with a large branch. There was something different about this one, he looked… fun. Remembering his company, the boy regained his composure and put on his "stern face" before continuing to stare through the leaves.

"That," said the man behind him, "Is the Sannin, Jiraiya. And that, is Naruto Uzumaki, your target."

-

"Master every pain in my body?!" Naruto was shouting, as he thwacked Jiraiya around the head again, "I'll master the pain in yours first!" And with a roar of rage he swung the stick up between Jiraiya's legs with a sickening crunch. The old ninja gave a small whimper of pain, his eyes bulging, before finally buckling. "Let's see where your blood rushes to now!" Naruto barked triumphantly as Jiraiya rolled on the floor, holding his gonads.

There was, perhaps a moment's pause before Jiraiya lunged forward. Grabbing Naruto with one arm he leapt through the air, just as the ground beneath them exploded. Somersaulting, Jiraiya spun in midair, landing atop a tree branch.

Naruto stared up at him, the old man's eyes were lean, concentrated. Just at the mere sight of this, Naruto felt a quiver of fear. He'd never seen the Sannin like this before; it meant danger. But what scared Naruto more was that it was clear that his master didn't know what kind of danger.

"Down!" Hissed Jiraiya, falling flat against the branch, as the top half of the tree was suddenly separated from the rest. Naruto stared as one hundred yards of tree flew through the air and came crashing down amongst its brothers, sending birds and dust flying.

Naruto felt Jiraiya throw him as the branch they were clinging to shattered into tiny shards of bark. Concentrating his chakra, Naruto landed his feet against the trunk of a nearby tree, but not before that too vanished into an array of spinning splinters. Leaping away, Naruto threw a kunai at a fleeting shadow, but it hit dirt.

Landing upon the grass, Naruto looked up to find where Jiraiya had gotten to, but his master had gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jiraiya leapt through the air as a barrage of shuriken soared towards him. He spun on the spot, his hair wrapping around his body, deflecting every blade. Grabbing a nearby branch, Jiraiya used it to propel himself through the leaves. He would have to leave Naruto alone for the moment.

There was something ahead of him, through the trees, something big, but fast. At that moment a fist swung out through the leaves to his right, catching the Sannin square in the face. They were frozen for perhaps a second before Jiraiya began to fall, but his hands had grabbed hold of the attacking fist and as he fell, he pulled with him his attacker.

The man was tall, with brilliant blond hair. And in the passing beams of light, Jiraiya saw the man whip out a knife. The assassin struck as they fell but the old man was too fast, he turned in midair, bringing his arms down and throwing the attacker into the ground. Dust exploded around them as the ground broke apart.

Jiraiya landed amongst the dust and his hand flew down to where the body lay before it could move. Grabbing the man by the collar, Jiraiya raised his face to meet his own.

"Who are you?" he asked, but the man didn't respond, he merely stared at Jiraiya was a glare of contempt. "Buddha would only forgive a man twice." Jiraiya breathed, "Now, who are you? Do you know those girls?" The man did nothing but stare at Jiraiya. They remained there for a second, Jiraiya peering into the silent killers eyes. In which, he saw the smallest flit, as the man looked over Jiraiya's shoulder. And as he did, Jiraiya swung his muscular arm round behind him, catching the blade inches from his spine.

"Oh please…" Scoffed the Sannin, looking at the two identical men on either side of him, "You think I wouldn't recognise a Bunshin?"

"It seems not." Said a voice from above. Jiraiya looked up to see the blond man standing above, arms folded up against the trunk of a tree. "And by the way, those are not merely bunshin."

No sooner had he said that than the two clones suddenly burst. Their forms exploding into an unformed mass, they collapsed onto Jiraiya, weighing him down. And a second later, they had solidified.

"Rock bunshin have an uncanny ability morph into rock formula whenever I so wish." Said the blond man, stepping away from the tree. "You're now trapped under about half a tone of granite. How does it feel frog hermit?" He sneered, "You won't be able to catch any flies from under there."

"I don't intend to." Said Jiraiya, "You see, I am the master of the toads. And you, are merely a fly." He smiled as a massive tongue whipped out through the gaps in the trees and enveloped the blond man. Lifting him into the air, the toad leapt onto the scene. Large, and red with deep yellow eyes, it looked up at its captive, his hands tied against his sides, no weapons in reach.

But there was a shower of red rain and the man hit the floor, landing neatly. He unrolled the severed tongue and threw it against a tree as the bleeding frog continued to scream in pain. He gave Jiraiya a little wave and vanished up into the leaves.

"Oh hell!" Jiraiya snapped, grating his teeth, as, with one swing of his arms, he broke free of the granite holding him down. Picking up the long, pink tongue, he handed it back to the weeping toad, "Here, try and glue it back on. Sorry." He smiled as the frog vanished in a burst of dust. Now it was time to find that Ninja again and discover just what his mysterious power was.

"Ero Sennin!" Naruto called again. It'd only been a few minutes, but even Naruto remembered from the Academy what a few minutes could mean on the battlefield. He ran into a clearing, following the sound of the crash he'd heard earlier. The moment Naruto passed through the gap in the trees, he froze.

There was a small crater of broken earth in the centre of the clearing, and next to that lay rubble as if a boulder had shattered. And off to one side… Naruto swallowed with shock, was a thin coating of blood. He made two steps forward before pausing again. What had happened here?

Panic began to rise within Naruto; he was standing, alone with no teacher, at the scene of what looked like someone's death, and… he was completely in the open. But before Naruto could do anything to change his situation, the ground underneath him broke apart. Blown back along with spinning pieces of earth, Naruto grabbed a tree trunk and wrapped himself around it, but even then he knew what was coming.

Leaping away, a second before the tree broke apart, Naruto concentrated his chakra into his fist as he spun round to face the person behind him. He struck but was too slow, the man vanished and Naruto felt a fist strike him across the back of the head.

Vision failing; Naruto grappled to stay conscious as he landed against another tree and leapt away. The man appeared before him again in mid air, his blond hair seemingly glowing but Naruto was ready. His arm snapped upwards and his view was momentarily marred by the sight of spinning shuriken.

The twirling blades flew towards their target but as he raised his hand to block, Naruto caught sight of a symbol across the man's palm. There was a woosh of wind and the shuriken crumpled in on themselves. And then a fist cut through them, hitting Naruto in the chest. He fell back and hit the floor.

Coughing, Naruto got to his knees. The man was nowhere to be seen. But he knew he was still there. And then out of the darkness, the man ran towards him. In plain view the man charged, he raised his fist. Naruto blocked the blow just in time as the man then swung a leg, catching Naruto in the stomach. His hands hitting the dirt, Naruto back flipped away, throwing a kunai as a distraction.

The man dodged it and came on full force, Naruto spun on his feet, catching the man's legs and kicking them out from under him, but the man's hand swung out, supporting his weight as he slammed his knee into Naruto's face. Back flipping again, Naruto leapt into the air away from the attacker.

As he soared through the air, Naruto caught sight of something. The broken bits of rock below quivered and then suddenly, from within burst an array of hands. It was as if the rocks had morphed into arms, as the long fingered hands stretched up towards him. Before Naruto could react, the hands grabbed his arms and legs, holding him poised, twenty feet in the air.

"Hmm." Said the man, "The blood of a Jinchuuriki, should taste delicious."

And as Naruto watched, the last piece of rock molded into a spike that began to stretch towards him, its point aiming right for his heart.


End file.
